Editing Neutral game

The '''neutral game''', or just '''neutral''', is a phase during gameplay when no player has a significant advantage over another. The goal of all players is to "win the neutral game", i.e. gain a positional advantage or capitalize on an opponent's mistake. A strong neutral game is crucial at top level play, as it is necessary to put the opponent in a disadvantageous position.

Every game starts out in what can be considered a neutral position: a medium distance away from each other relative to the size of the stage. This theoretically means that no character starts a game with a positional advantage. However, this is not always the case in practice. Some characters will spawn in the exact position they want to be at, putting them at an advantage. This can come down to the size and shape of the stage and what port a [[controller]] is plugged into depending on the game.  

Being in a neutral position means that no player can use their abilities as effectively as they can against being somewhere else on the stage. A character's effectiveness in the neutral game comes down to three main factors: mobility, attack speed, and range. Good mobility grants easier movement and repositioning, and can allow a character to respond quickly when they find an opening, or retreat to escape pressure. Fast attack speed makes a character unpredictable, and can be used to force reactions and create openings. Characters with long reach in their attacks can fight at a safe distance, and range also encompasses projectiles, which are essential for applying pressure and limiting the opponent's options. Characters typically are either decently effective with all three attributes, or greatly excel in one attribute and lack in the others.

The neutral game can be looked at as a [https://docs.google.com/drawings/d/1AJqWdlRkZDeYU8KrhcJuIiXCqO09xWO9byR1W5xGLSc/edit?usp=sharing triangle of sorts], like Rock, Paper, Scissors, where each vertex overrides another. Grabbing goes through shielding, [[Shield]]s can block attacks and leave opportunities to punish afterward, and regular attacks can outprioritize grabs due to their generally superior range and speed. The strategy comes in trying to anticipate what the opponent will do next and planning around it. This way of looking at the neutral game is a bit reductive, however; players generally have more than 3 options available to them (such as moving out of the way if they feel they are too close to the opponent, or using different attacks at a time). Each attribute also, despite naturally having an advantage over the second and a disadvantage over the third, does not mean a character that excels in that one attribute will automatically win or lose a specific matchup, as the skill of the individual player is still the ultimate deciding factor.

The goal is not to stay in a neutral position forever, as the game would grind to a halt and go to a [[time out]]. Both players are looking to "win" the neutral game by whatever means they deem fit. A common way to win the neutral game is to get around the opponent and into a positional advantage, i.e. wherever a character's attacks are the most effective. Characters with fast attacks and good grabs would want to be as close to the opponent as possible. Characters good at zoning and setting traps would want to get as far away as possible. Characters with long and disjointed attacks would want to be just far enough away to hit their opponent but they can't hit back. Another way is to force or trick the opponent into making a mistake or risky action, then capitalizing off this bait with a strong [[punish]]. There are also some characters that excel in a neutral position depending on the [[matchup]], such as those with strong [[projectile]]s may be used to pressure the enemy into making a move. The stage also plays a factor into this strategy, as characters can exploit certain geography and [[stage hazard]]s to make winning the neutral game easier.

A common mistake made by beginners is to always approach the opponent with the exact same option without putting much thought into how the opponent might also want to approach or if they aim to punish these options. Without any level of unpredictability or situational awareness, it can be very difficult to mount an offense against a better player. Understanding the difference between engaging the opponent (i.e. approaching through movement to win neutral by positioning) and actually attacking them is a key point in neutral and not grasping it will hurt the player more often than not.